"No need to destroy its arms," Ilena spoke, favoring the younger vampire with a sideways glance. "Removing its sword is enough, if it has lost its divine magics."

Past that point, a paladin would be nothing more than a brute of considerable strength, one packed in an unfitting frame. To some, it would have been impressive, but to the shadow-witch? It would be food to fit her belly. She exchanged a nod with Luna, the bewitching priestess's words carrying a weight that suited not their present circumstances, nor their present capabilities, but some would yet be emboldened, encouraged, by her flattery. Ilena herself stalked off, feeling yet the children that writhed beneath her flesh. It would be good to collect more. It would be good too, if she had the chance to consume that Est and her own hoard.

There was no true benefit, after all, in defeating an undead paladin. She would have to make up the loss elsewhere.

It was doubtful, of course, that any loss could be made up for at the gatehouse, not when more creatures of putrefied and dessicated flesh laid beyond, and shriek of the undying paladin sounded only to call forth even more of those ragged bones towards them. Her amethyst eyes flickered from one companion to another, before Ilena made her decision.

"Excuse me."

Dragan was a necromancer himself. Luna's wiles permeated through any obstructions. Akyasha's bloody flora could drain nothing from emptied veins. So it would be Giselle and the 'Rime-Winged Vermillion Angel', both of whom could feel Ilena's hand rest against the back of their necks. Could hear that once-inaudible whining grow louder and louder, before...

...two sets of translucent insectoid wings burst out from the shadow-witch's back, their crystalline veins almost beautiful if not for the black viscera still staining them. They twitched, flexed, shaking off the fluids of mutant-birth, and then buzzed at maximum speed, launching all three vampires up to the top of the gatehouse in mere seconds, where Ilena deposited them afterwards.

There was a vantage point now. The high ground, so to speak.

And from that high ground, the shadow-witch began to allow her shadow to seep downwards, a slow-crawling mud that was so much less picky than herself, a Black Tide that would be jubilant for even bones dry of marrow, after so many centuries of neglect. Down, down, down it crept, living darkness that pulled all into the witch's swamp.

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

The flurry of activity within the cathedral was an interesting feeling. Even before their great slumber, it had been many hundreds of years since she’d banded together with others in something that actually felt like it had… potential. It would have been a heady feeling, had the circumstances the surrounded it all not been so dire.

Giselle hadn’t paid attention to the thrall that Luna had picked up until now, having had other things to do, but she spared her a nod of acknowledgement when the woman voiced her agreement of her observation. “If there is something to be salvaged, I would like to have a hand in rebuilding what was lost.”

The attack of the paladins upon what once had been sanctuary ground remained her greatest and most severe failure, even if it had been inevitable. Being given the chance to rebuild it all once more, in a time that needed it more than ever more than fueled her desire to see the directives from her goddess through. It would certainly be interesting to see her queen once more, at least.

For now, though, there were more undead and a certain paladin to enact some revenge upon.

Going about it was something else, though, especially when the beast seemed to have taken notice of her groups’ activities. She gave her own input on the matter. “Perhaps, perhaps not. One or the other may be harder than one might think, but its sword would certainly make a lovely trophy for one of our number. That said, let it drive itself and its hordes against the gates of the cathedral. Best not squander the advantage we have been given.” She briefly glanced over at the red-haired priestess, idly wondering for a moment if the zealot would raise an objection in the grounds of desecrating the monument.

It seemed Illena agreed with her position, as a moment later, the brim-hatted witch ferried her up on top of the gatehouse alongside Aleksiya. It wasn’t as optimal as it could be, but it still worked. If she’d known, she would have spent more effort on restoring a rifle, though… But in times like these, beggars could not be choosers. Drawing her new revolver, she made sure the weapon was loaded before she leveled the weapon at the undead below. Were she a lesser being, it would have been impossible to land a shot with such a weapon from such a distance. But she was not, and each of the six shots of her opening salvo found their mark.

Being in the immediate vicinity of the turned undead, Dragan was far quicker on the mark than their foe, and his own undead began to rip into their former fellows faster than their slow reactions could respond to. As his minions began to viciously assault the undead around them, Dragan leapt up to the gatehouse and entered, watching over the battle from above. For now, he made no move to actually open the gate.

At his mental command, one of the two spectral shades hovered in front of him, brandishing its dagger.

"Go. Find the one with the silver sword, assault him but once, and lure him back towards the gate." He commanded, sending the spectre flying off while the unarmed one remained by his side for the moment.

From his vantage point, Dragan oversaw the conflict below, directing his enthralled skeletons to assault weak points in the opposing horde and be far more effective than they would be otherwise. Any skeletal warrior that fell would soon be replaced in Dragan's forces by another one of their number ripped from the enemy's control.

"Would that my former brother could emerge already, so we can end this farce sooner..." He murmured under his breath, his warhammer planted into the floor as he placed both hands upon it.

Location: Alavaris
Cathedral
@Psyker Landshark@Asuras@Erode@VitaVitaAR@Click This@Pyromania99

---

As commanded, the spectral shades would leap from the wall, heading out into the darkness, swiftly flying past the skeletal undead that were engaged in a seemingly unceasing melee with each other as steel severed bone, only for the bone to reform and assault its attacker to repeat the process. Dragan’s small horde could react faster…but they still lacked numbers as occasionally one would fall in the melee, bones crushed into the earth in their battle.

Giselle’s marksmanship proved somewhat effective. Normal bullets could only do so much to an undead. Even were its skull cracked it wouldn’t immediately die, but they did at least, offer some manner of deterrent and aid, allowing the horde of Dragan’s undead to have a much easier time, taking advantage of openings she created.

They would not have to wait long, for this supposed skeletal beast would soon show itself. Some distance away, looming over the city, towering above the remaining houses stood a massive skeletal creature. The very same Akyasha saw earlier, though now they could get a much better look at it. Ancient, tarnished armor rested on its chest, its heavy footfalls leading it ever closer, slowly towards the gatehouse and the vampires.

But no silver blade.

No, its hands were empty, but then, where was it?

It would not take long for the massive skeletal creature to reach the gate, and the vampires watching could see beneath its feet now, what seemed to be a humanoid dressed in armor that seemed quite similar to the giant skeleton advancing towards them in time with it. The horde of undead below were growing numerous, too, and thicker as some would break off from the group and start looking for other ways up to the vampires on the gate.

Akyasha would be pleased to see both her bats return swiftly. A chittering reply from both in an ancient, ethereal tongue that only clerics could understand.

“Two. Humans. Leaving. Small caverns in the slums lead outside.”

“Armored creature. Silver sword. Possessed. Coming this way.”

They’d both light on her shoulder, chittering in a mildly annoyed seeming fashion.

“Hungry.”
“Feed.”

Seemed like they wanted some food.

"Hmmm, Humans leaving and Armored creature, silver sword, possessed, coming this way." The Cleric had to ponder for a small time. She quickly made her way closer to her companions. "Fellows, I bring word from the skies above the city." Akyasha then delivered the message verbatim, though as well as one could do such a thing with a translated sentence.

“Two. Humans. Leaving. Small caverns in the slums lead outside.”

“Armored creature. Silver sword. Possessed. Coming this way.”

Smiling after delivering the statement, the Cleric pet her adorable little Gorebats. They would definitely need to be fed here soon. "I ponder then, perhaps, where might the silver sword be? This behemoth hiding it? Another one approaching? Or is it perhaps our human friends have stolen it and made escape through caverns in the slums?" Akyasha couldn't help a small, giddy laugh. "I relish the the truth of the matter." She added, smiling.

Her next words were quite obviously directed towards Giselle and her slightly ponderous look in the Clerics direction. "Had we more strength, we'd not need let them come in force against these gates. Alas, I've yet the ability to bring forth the Matriarchs again. A pity, but we must make due with what we have. So long as we drive them back, I'm quite sure the Goddess blesses our actions. Though, I'd prefer not to have anything damaged in the first place if possible." A small plea, if anything, carried in her voice.

"No, that isn't it..." Dragan spied the approaching armored skeleton, dismissing it the moment he noted the lack of silver sword in its hands. He had other concerns to deal with at the moment, namely micromanaging his small number of stolen undead to decimate a much larger force.

A mental command sent the two spirit wraiths he'd ensorcelled to harry and harass those of the horde that split off to try to circumvent the gate while Dragan listened to Ayakasha's message with one ear. Now this was curious. Was there simply a second skeleton commander, and the first merely lacked a sword? Or was this the actual skeletal paladin and the two humans mentioned somehow managed to steal the blade for themselves? The latter would be something of a problem. A silver blade in the hands of someone who knew how to use it would be a great threat, as every single one of his companions knew. Their relative lack of strength at the moment only compounded said threat. In truth, Dragan was hoping that the humans could be reasoned with. But if they insisted on hostilities, they'd have to be chastised first.

"I am trying." He ground out in response to Ayakasha's plea to avoid damage to the cathedral. "However, that is what the gate's purpose is. So long as we stop the horde here, the actual cathedral itself can be preserved."

There was, perhaps, a pang of disappointment in Luna's expression when Fra detailed her lack of expertise in 'anything but being unseen'. It was not for a lack of usefulness -being able to skulk was surely a skill- but for her unsurety at Fra's sincerity. Just how much the thrall was being inconsolably humble, and how much was true... Luna would find out eventually. Her thoughts and feelings remained secreted from Fra, and Luna instead nodded with a hum.

"Then keep within the cathedral," she paused, stepping outside and for the gatehouse, "I would ask that you not throw yourself into danger, as sacrifice or otherwise. Harrowing as things may yet turn, we would all appreciate if confidence were forefront on your mind, and not worry for our safety," she smiled. Luna left Fra within the sanctity of the cathedral before exiting to join her comrades. With no battle experience and a yet-exhausted spirit, the thrall would be more a burden than an asset.

Though she drew her saber, Luna intended to remain at the rear of the formation. Newly rejuvenated, a burning in her chest begged to be let free into cold air. A welling song focused her senses, and she stepped to the edge of the gatehouse, and pressed her hands to her chest. The music started softly at first; a gentle hum in her throat as memory returned, and muse chimed.

"♫ Clouds and stars, steeds and coin... ♫"

Luna was no necromancer -she could not raise the dead from coffins and graves like Dragan could. But her charms cared naught for origin, and an essence of necromancy was the captivation of something.

And for that, she too could wrest control.

Luna's song grew louder and louder, carrying itself across the developing battlefield. She made no attempt to take control from Dragan, or even from the necromancer that controlled the rest, but rather sought to weaken the hold that unseen enemy had on their own forces. For the Death Knight, the effort he would need to exert was lessened. More and more shambling undead would feel that much simpler to steal.

And for those that he did not turn his hand upon, confusion and miscommunication would set in.

"♫ All turn in turn, in the dust of Dawn and Dusk ♫"

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Considering her experience with her previous encounters with the mindless undead of Alavaris, Giselle was not too surprised to see that despite hitting her marks, they were not as fatally debilitating as she wished the projectiles to be. In the past, she would pour more energy into the bullets if she so wished for a far more devastating effect, but that was then and not now. Still, it was enough to make a difference for the others to finish them off, even if she wasn’t the one to personally deal the blow herself.

It seemed the fracas had done what was expected and drew the skeletal monster back out into the open. Giselle hasn’t seen the creature previously, but from its size, appearance, and armor she had no issue believing that was their mark… until she and the others realized the distinctive lack of silver sword. She frowned from her vantage point. Had the cleric been wrong again? It would not be the first time.
Additional intelligence from the mad cleric gave her some more pause. The two ‘Society’ humans were still in the vicinity, together with what sounded like a second creature, and with the sword to boot? Giselle’s encounter with Rikard didn’t give her the impression that he was a necromancer aside from his vials of blood, or that he was manipulating the skeleton beasts, but the presence was a concern. Perhaps they would take the sword for themselves? She supposed it would be a valuable relic in this lost age.

The sword itself mattered little to her. Unlike others who took unsilvered weapons for granted, she was a vampire that preferred to treat any weapon as potentially lethal out of an abundance of caution.

Not that she ever had to be concerned of being attacked overmuch until the end days.

“Let us deal with this swiftly, then. Damaging the structure would be unfortunate, but even a relic such as it is less important than our lives at this juncture.” They were, after all, resurrected by Ichor for this mission. A mere building paled in the face of that.

She reloaded her weapon, taking a few moments to place each bullet into the cylinder of her new revolver one-by-one. As Luna worked her song, Giselle held her fire, waiting to see what control the songstress could wrest. She would save her shot for when the skeletal creatures would come into range. Once it did, she would fire at its head and gauge a reaction— or otherwise find its weakness. She sorely wanted to engage it more meaningfully rather than plinking away with a sidearm, but she knew better.

While this was certainly a better position to be in when it came to her current limitations as an attacker, Aleksiya could not say she particularly cared for being picked up and carried as if she was a piece of some sort of luggage. Still, she couldn't deny this was a more advantageous position to attack from given her current power level lending her to ranged attack more then anything.

Thus, she refrained from voicing any complaints and instead focused on the task at hand.

More boring, dull undead. The most irritatingly uninteresting kind, dried out old bones that wouldn't even die in an exciting fashion. Still, it was for the sake of her comrades and herself.

And that giant skeleton, with the absent blade, made for an interesting sight as well. Just what was going on? Where was the undead paladin's weapon?

Regardless, given the advance of the skeletons, it was best to strike first and destroy as many of the undead as possible.

"I suppose I shall begin the cull, then," she commented, waving her hand. Crystalline spears of ice formed in an arc over her body, condensing whatever moisture there was in the air into razor projectiles that immediately tilted, training themselves on numerous skeletons below.

All save for one.

As she released the first seven projectiles into the skeletal horde, the eight tilted upwards, aiming at the smaller figure beside the skeleton. She wasn't confident it would hit, but if it didn't that was acceptable. Rather, she wanted to see how the giant skeleton would react.

The crystalline spear of ice was loosed, tearing through the air.

@Rune_Alchemist@ERode@Asuras@Psyker Landshark@Click This@Pyromania99

Location: Alavaris
Cathedral
@Psyker Landshark@Asuras@Erode@VitaVitaAR@Click This@Pyromania99

---

The wraiths Dragan had sent out circled back around, heading for the undead that were currently attempting to find their way up to the cathedral wall. Being incorporeal, they were particularly suited to the task, ripping and crushing the skeletons with their bare hands. Alas, though, there were merely two of them and as the ones spectral blades ripped through the ribcage of one skeleton, it was quickly replaced by another.

And well, the skeletons seemed at least smart enough to run through the spectral entities.

Thankfully, though, it seemed that Luna’s song was working mostly as intended. The dulcet tones that waved through the air didn’t disorient, but it weakened and it would make Dragan’s own control stronger as the skeletons would slow their movements further, some seemingly mildly confused as they’d start attacking their own allies.

Still, it would not stop them entirely form breaching the same stairs that the trio had used earlier to climb past the gates, and eventually they had made their way up to the ramparts, a dozen or so having managed to get through and were not rushing towards the vampires -

By now, too, the large skeletal creature had nearly made it to the gate. It was only a few of its long strides away as it shrieked, a pale mimicking of human breathing emanating from its hollow chest while it seemingly studied the vampires, and pausing just long enough for Aleksiya to lob one of her ice spears towards it.

The large skeletal beast didn’t budge as the spear slammed into the smaller, armored knights chestplate, not strong enough to tear a hole through the armor, but enough to give it pause. This close, it was much easier to see now. Tattered, old armor of the old Silverlight god, tarnished and in its hand was a blade…but it was not silver, no. Had Fra been wrong? The humans likely couldn’t have pilfered it, but that just left one question more…on where exactly it was.

The smaller human barely turned its head up towards the vampires atop the wall. It’d raise an empty hand towards them as Giselle's own firearm fired, a bullet hurtling towards the skeletal creatures skull, burying itself in its off white colored dome, whatever action the armored human taking briefly stopped as the skeleton turned its eyeless gaze towards Giselle.

And in the same instance that it would bring its skeletal hand down on top of Giselle, the Paladin would make a similar motion with its own hand.

No silver sword in sight, only a necromancer wearing the armor of the Silverlight God.

"This isn't the paladin."

A simple, cutting phrase. It was a decoy. If death alone was enough to cause a paladin of that abominable order to abandon their blade, then those zealots would have been so much easier to deal with. Ilena turned her gaze to the others. Dragan, instrumental for preventing them from being overwhelmed, and Luna, who assisted him with her emotive manipulations. Giselle and the Rime-Winged Vermillion Angel maintained the high-ground advantage, raining projectiles down below. And Akyasha herself, in this instance, looked to be most suitable for the task of tracking down that silvered blade.

Fine.

She wasn't hungry, and this was not a hunt worth expending any energy on, but Ilena would do it regardless. She sighted her target, gathered her might, and...pounced.

A black wolf bearing two sets of buzzing wings, dove downwards from the top of the gate, its form as fluid as ink, as mud. But its fangs and claws were very real, and the shadowmeld weapons scattered the undead beneath the beast, before the beast itself sank into their shadows. Snaking through the chaos of the disorderly horde, it circled around the armored lich as nothing more distinct than a puddle of mud, before bursting out once more to strike at it from behind, jaws opened to take its head clean of its shoulders.

By now, Dragan's suspicions were confirmed. This absolutely wasn't the paladin they'd been warned about. In that case...this was a waste of time.

"Enough of this." Dragan said, hefting his looted warhammer up as he stepped out onto the edge of his perch. "Either the battle ends here, or our actions prove drastic enough to lure the other one out. Regardless, I've had quite enough of sitting back and merely directing matters."

If a lord did not sally forth into battle himself, how would he ever inspire his people? With that in mind, Dragan channeled blood magic through his legs and leapt, his hammer gripped in both hands as he descended upon the large skeleton at the same moment that Ilena sicced her shadow wolf on it.

The Death Knight's leap had him on a direct trajectory with the skeleton's raised arm, and Dragan swung as he came into range, his warhammer aiming to utterly crush the bone arm that was raised to assail Giselle.

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

A skeletal horde, a skeletal beast, and an undead being that appeared to be a paladin, but on closer inspection, lacked its signature sword. Curiouser and curiouser, but it mattered not. Even if it as a diversion, what mattered at the end of the day was that it was all still in between them and their goal.

Giselle hadn’t expected much of the small caliber, pedestrian weapon, but it had its intended effect. In this case, it appeared –whichever was the one that was controlling the other—didn’t like being shot at. The white-haired vampire was prepared for the retaliation, however, and she holstered her pistol as she leapt away from the path of the beast’s bone arm. Seeing Dragan move to her support, she gave him a nod as he took advantage of the opening. Even if the smaller paladin –or paladin lookalike—was controlling the larger skeleton, it was hard to stop that amount of inertia.

Indeed, the time for gauging the battle behind the safety of the ramparts was over. She made her landing in a sea of lesser undead, which she reaped with a whirl of her enhanced scythe, batting aside the rest as she turned her attention back to the paladin. Starting towards it, she called out to two of her companions. “Dragan, Aleksiya, with me. Let us see if we can end this by striking at the supposed source.” In another motion, she sliced out with her polearm at the armored figure, engaging it in melee combat.

It was only obvious that the monstrous, gigantic skeleton was effectively an extension of the smaller figure. And thus their target became more obvious. Exactly where the sword was located wasn't immediately clear, which was all the more concerning, but Aleksiya was hardly about to allow herself to be shaken by something like that. No matter what, this monster would be destroyed.

The moisture in the air condensed, the crystal form of another spear of ice materializing over the diminutive vampire's right shoulder. Then another, over her left, and a third above her head.

"Hmph, I don't need an order to know that's the best idea," she said with a dismissive huff, even though she immediately moved in compliance with Giselle, targeting the smaller figure as she swiftly advanced. Certainly, she disliked the feeling of being commanded by someone who by all rights as her equal at most, but at the same time willfully ignoring a solid piece of strategy wasn't a show of her pride. It was a show of stupidity.

Eliminating the smaller figure that seemed to puppet the skeleton was, as of their current information, the most solid choice they had.

Her first ice spear hadn't managed to penetrate its armor. So, at closer range, from a better angle...

Sprinting around to the figure's right, her ice spears tilted towards it and launched all at once while Giselle attacked.

@Rune_Alchemist@ERode@Asuras@Psyker Landshark@Click This@Pyromania99

Akyasha stood as her allies charged the smaller undead in full armor. "Hmm, I wonder if that's not. Much has changed since our death, has it not? Take caution, or don't. I suppose." The Cleric said, wondering if they could even hear her. As she looked out, she hadn't noticed anything more coming toward them, so if what her bats had said were true, and why would it not be, the sword was very likely here. Then, she turned her attention to the skeletons that had managed their way up to the top of the gate where she was. Well, not everyone needed to fight the big one. Someone needed to handle these smaller ones. Using blood magic, she formed two rather heavy looking maces in her hands. "Alright little ones. Go find a small meal of some wild ghouls or something while we clean up here." She said to her Gorebats before waving them off.

She just needed to clean up some skeletons. It shouldn't be a problem. They were only shambling toward them, not charging, but she didn't want them getting into the Cathedral proper at this moment. "I won't have you go much further than this." The Cleric hummed a small bit before leaping forward and bringing one mace down on a skeleton, bashing it to pieces, before bringing her other arm around to cleanly smashing the skull off of another then keeping up her assault on them since it needed to be taken care of anyway. It just meant her allies could focus on the bigger one if she focused down these smaller ones. Twelve shouldn't be much a problem for her, even in this weakened state. After all, she took care of much more when she didn't have as much blood as she did now.

Location: Alavaris
Cathedral
@Psyker Landshark@Asuras@Erode@VitaVitaAR@Click This@Pyromania99

---

Illena acted swiftly. Shadows melded, moved, slithered between the undead horde that was oblivious to her assault. The armored paladin seemed unresponsive as she’d rush it, shadows bursting from the ground in the shape of a hound, fangs of shadow aiming for the armored undeads head.

It would be a surprise at least, that it would move so swiftly.

Just before the fangs would meet its head, the armored humanoid jerked its entire body around, an armored hand grasping at the shadows and with a mighty swing, slammed the shadowy wolf back into the old stone below, its hands lighting up with faint remnants of holy power, completely dissipating the shadows.

This did not stop Aleksiya’s spears, though, as they'd slam into the armor of the paladin. The undead hissed, groaning as one spear pierced its armor and quickly, jerkingly turn towards Aleksiya just in time to see Giselle lashing out with her weapon. With a growl, it'd raise its hands and with fading holy power it'd deflect the blade with its hands, leaving the bloody weapon lightly corroded and the paladins own hands with a deep cut. This was followed by it lunging forwards, attempting to grapple Giselle as it'd reach for her weapon.

Above, Dragan launched himself towards the skeletal giants arm. Warhammer met bone, the force of the impact enough to cause some of the ancient bones to crack, but not enough to completely break the force completely as Dragan would be finding himself being slammed back into the ground, engaged in a small contest of strength as the skeletons' weight bore down on him. Unless he did something, he’d likely be crushed as it’d raise its arm for a second smackdown.

Akyasha’s gorebats nodded, swiftly flying away from the battle. No doubt they would return soon enough, gorged and full of blood and ready for their duty of being either used as sacrificial pawns or aiding the others with small boons of blood. For now though, she’d engage those that had made it to atop the wall. Bloody maces smashing and crushing their bones. With dragan’s wraiths still supporting her, this should quickly make short work of the undead.

Dissipation?

No.

To grab at shadows was to grab at air: one could close their hands over a form that looks so real, only to pass through nothing. Ilena writhed beneath the undead paladin's grasp, splattering like paint against the ground before the burst of holy light chased those congealed shadows away. To presume that darkness could be slain by light was foolish. They moved at equal speeds, forever chasing after one another, and though her form was broken, to return once more was as simple as molding mud back together. As the paladin turned, lunging towards Giselle, the black mud rose out of his own shadows. Limbs, too long to be of humanoid nature, wrapped around his, wrenching joints backwards to expose the paladin's head and chest.

If he wished for Giselle's blade so dearly, then let him have it.

Amethyst eyes emerged within the nightmarish silhouette and narrowed in their assent.

With her woven disorder spread across the battlefield, Luna turned then to more directed and immediate defensive measures. Her comrades locked in combat needed more specific aid, and in the moments that the skeletal beast began lifting its massive hand to crush Dragan, she saw opportunity for exactly that.

Where song wove broadly, her eyes focused upon singular targets. Luna's gaze became as piercing spears, and with it ethereal chains pulled by the inertia of weighted points. Manifesting above the skeleton's arm, several chains descended and weaved through ulna and radius. Clamoring and clanking beset the air as the magical metal swung wide and circular, wrapping and coiling the forearm. By her will, Luna sought to bind the slamming arm, and stop it short of collapsing upon Dragan.

Not content with staying there upon the walls in this hectic moment, Luna dropped down to the others, and put in her comparatively meager strength to dispatch the rank and file of the battle. Her silver sabre drawn, she took to striking gracefully, fluidly, at the skeletal and zombified minions. Though pitiful, any amount of breathing room for the others who were engaged with far more important targets, could go a long way.

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle hadn’t counted on the paladin seizing the blade of her scythe entirely, nor did she expect the metallic construction of her weapon to corrode. She allowed herself a small grimace before she reacted. If her constructs, even once converted from blood could still be tainted by holy light, then she was weak indeed. Even if so, that didn’t matter now, when her compatriots helped her take the paladin to task around her.

She took care to pull back, ripping the blade of her scythe from its hands with a twist, doing nasty things to the paladin’s hands with its cutting edge, as Aleksiya’s spears and Dragan’s war hammer did equally devastating damage to the undead beings. Yet they still lived. The white-haired vampire reengaged the paladin as he lunged towards her, just as Illena’s nightmarish shadows began to wrap around him, restraining him and giving Giselle the perfect opening to deal a crippling blow to the undead paladin.

She would thank her later. For now, she would simply crash down upon its exposed head and chest with a downwards slash of her scythe. If she were given the opportunity, she would twist the weapon immediately upwards for a combo, before kicking herself away to reassess the situation. Giselle had noted Dragan’s temporary distress, but she knew enough of the vampire lord to be confident in his recovery.

Dragan's previous ingestion of blood hadn't restored as much strength as he'd thought it would. Otherwise, his strike would have utterly shattered the giant skeleton's arm. Instead, Dragan found himself straining against the bastard as said arm bore down on him. He could still get himself out of this predicament, but it would sap a good portion of his strength to muster up the magics required.

Fortunately for Dragan and his blood pool, Luna's chains pulled the skeleton's arm off of him, and Dragan's helm tilted in her direction before dipping slightly as thanks. He picked himself back up and hefted his warhammer, taking a moment to send yet more mental commands to his undead even as he began to focus on the fight before him.

It seemed Ilena and Giselle already had their assaults under way, and Dragan charged forward to join them, following up on their attacks. As Giselle kicked off of the undead paladin, Dragan leapt onto it, bringing his hammer down onto its exposed and weakened chest with as much force as he could muster. Hopefully this time, his target would shatter after having received blows beforehand.